Emotional Labor Putting the Service in Public Service

Most public service jobs require interpersonal contact that is either face-to-face or voice-to-voice - relational work that goes beyond testable job skills but is essential for job completion. This unique book focuses on this emotional labor and what it takes to perform it.The authors weave a powerful narrative of stories from the trenches gleaned through interviews, focus groups, and survey data. They go beyond the veneer of service delivery to the real, live, person-to-person interactions that give meaning to public service.For anyone who has ever felt apathetic toward government work, the words of caseworkers, investigators, administrators, attorneys, correctional staff, and 9/11 call-takers all show the human dimension of bureaucratic work and underscore what it means to work "with feeling."

Chapter 1 Emotional Labor and Public Service; Chapter 2 The Disconnect Between Public Administration Theory and Practice; Chapter 3 Governance, Demanding Publics, and Citizen Satisfaction; Chapter 4 I’ll Know It When I See It: Emotional Labor, Verbal Judo, and Artful Affect; Chapter 5 Burnout Versus Making a Difference:The Costs and Benefits of Emotion Work; Chapter 6 Do Human Resource Practices Recognize Emotional Labor?; Chapter 7 Pay Inequity as the Penalty for Emotion Work; Chapter 8 Emotion Work Present and Future:Trends in Relational Occupations; Chapter 9 Implications for Theory, Research, and Practice;

Authored by Guy, Mary E.; Newman, Meredith A.; Mastracci, Sharon H.